True. But where is the fun in that? j/k I lumbered on in there, got the snot beat out of me, ratzafratza, reload, lumbered on in again, got the snot beat out of me...repeat. Perhaps a change of tactics was in order? Let's use Mr. Baggins tactic - Empty the Quiver. That helped. Caution is my usual approach, until I suffer a brain-stoppage. That's when I charge on in and get the snot beat out of me. Whatever you do, don't use the Summon Kobold spell! :D </font>[/QUOTE]There is no fun in that actually.. fireball burn parties are a sure way to kill all the fun from BG. Since the characters have so limited sight anyway, I thought that shooting people from distance is more realistic than running to them <=> seeing them from maximum of like thirty feets away even with clean sight. And it´s also true that if you can play through the whole BG series smiling and without using that tactic at all, then you are most probably lyin.. or just super talented. I only use that against enemies where my weak party wouldn´t otherwise have chances. (Nowadays I dont give super stats to my characters)

[ 10-15-2002, 09:08 AM: Message edited by: NiceWorg ]

Caution is the watchword, NiceWorg for survival in BG. I am a true fan of the ranged attacks, but once in a while, I forget to be cautious, and wham! Reload. :D Sometimes I think half the fun of the game is getting beat up in a tough battle, changing tactics on the fly, healing on the move, searching for the right spell and finally prevailing.

My tatic is to use a decoy. One guy with the boots of speed and shield of missle protection +4 runs around and around, while my guys fire missles at em. If that doesn't work, I do a semi-Braveheart tatic. Make two guys stay behind, then, when everyone is concentrated on my other guys, we go in the back, and eliminate all mages and archers. If that doesn't work, i go straight to seeing who has the better party.

I use cheese when the game's limitations force me to act in an unrealistic manner. My favorite example of this: I am in hostile territory (such as a dungeon), so naturally I have a Stealthed Thief roaming around, scouting out where the bad guys are. But he can't explore what's down that flight of stairs because "You must gather your party before venturing forth." So, I gather may party, we march downstairs together, and WHAM there's a huge bunch of high-level bad guys that kick the snot out of us. Now, WHY wouldn't my Thief have been able to sneak down those stairs alone, and then come back to warn us?
In cases like this, I say it's OK to cast your buffing spells before your characters know a fight is coming up.

one of my favorite tricks has always been scout ahead with Immy, Dynaheir then casts web/stinking cloud or both where she's told, then casts minor globe of invulnerability walks in and drops fireballs on herself (most of the enemies will have failed one save or the other against the web or cloud) and with the globe she's immune. I don't consider this cheating as it's making use of character abilities, just like I would in PnP and I'm not taking adavntage of the games AI (like using arrows of detonation and the boots of speed (fire run out of the area, sneak back in where they don't see u, and repeat)

Pay attention boys, girls and integrated kobolds...this is the voice of experience talking...please take notes on Professor Morgeruat's a$$kicking 101 as this WILL be on the test.

lol, thanx, I merely used the low high level spell selections Dynaheir(sp?) has to my best advantage, simple tricks like this could make a mage/thief unstoppable, in PnP as well as BG1/IWD (it doesn't work in BG2 as there are WAY too many spell protection destroyers, and high level spells that everyone and their 6 y/o sister has access to)

powergaming is fine if you like it, remember baldurs gate first and foremost is about enjoying a game not about roleplaying and some people enjoy it more by powergaming, if you want to roleplay go on a MUD or do it in rl or play a game which isnt quite so combat orientated.

oh and the best thing to do is creep everywhere like someone said previously and use a scout in pre arranged formation, be careful and that way when you trip traps most of the time theres only one party member near and also you can scout enemies before they approach you, esp the nasty ones and set up a battle line or even get a spell casting before you engage in dialogue, ie fighting 4 mages, cast silence on them before you begin dialogue so once you end dialogue they are silenced and you dont take the brunt of nasty spells, IMO thats a more roleplaying tactic because you see aforesaid group of assassins and decide to take preemptive action, afterall silence isnt a massively aggresive spell, just takes precautions [img]smile.gif[/img] and having a single scout is always a good idea because that way you can draw off one enemy at a time.